Thinkpads Forum

HI

Today on the train l saw a young girl with a very small thinkpad in fact l never saw one this small.

What series could this be? And are they any good?

Thanks

Alan

PS the screen could have been 12"

Barbie Thinkpad?

One of the smallest ThinkPads was the TP 240. Perhaps it was that one. ... JD Hurst

Is this worth while to use for e-mails and surfing?

Alan

PS Just love the size.

Sure. It is 800x600, and supports Windows 2000 wonderfully well. Battery life is the pits, and XP compatibilty is only fair (I stayed with 2000 on that computer). It is also comparatively old and weak. Still, I always liked mine. ... JD Hurst

Hi

Couldn't find one but from what l have read they don't have a cd and eats up battery's.

How about the next size up?

thanks

Alan

kingman99 wrote:<snip>
Couldn't find one but from what l have read they don't have a cd <snip>

How do you think they made it so small ?
... JD Hurst

I comprehend but l guess you need a floppy disc to download an O/S?

And if you have a wind 2000 cd can you download it onto a floppy disc in order to install the it?

Alan

The 240 series is the smallest Thinkpad ever sold in America. Smaller ones were available in Japan, I think.

I've owned three 240's and one 240X and loved them very much. The three 240's (300MHz, 366MHz and 400MHz Celeron) could run Win XP Pro but fairly slowly, whereas the 240X (500MHz PIII) ran it pretty well. So, I strongly recommend you to get a 500MHz PIII 240X instead of any of the 240's. Also, with the extended, 6-cell battery, it lasts pretty long, like 4 hours.

Regarding how to install without a CD drive, I start by booting from a Win98 floppy via an external floppy drive, format the HDD with the "/S" parameter to make the HDD bootable, take out the HDD and put it in a desktop computer with a CD drive, copy the Win 98 and Win XP files into two separate folders, put the HDD back into the Thinkpad and install Win98, then upgrade to Win XP. I tried bypassing the Win98 step and installing XP from the DOS prompt but failed.

kingman99 wrote:Hi

Couldn't find one but from what l have read they don't have a cd and eats up battery's.

How about the next size up?

thanks

Alan

I would probably look at 600 series to fit into the next size up.

ambientscape wrote:

kingman99 wrote:How about the next size up?

I would probably look at 600 series to fit into the next size up.

The 600 series is much bigger! I would say the next size up is an X40/41/60s.

Hi

Presently l have the 600x 650mhz and really like it but the cost of a x40 is too steep and l'm not computer literate yet but l'm learning.

The only other models that l like is the t-23. I had the T-40 for 3 days and had to return it because of too many dead pixels.

It's cheaper and smarter to buy on ebay a t-23 loaded for under $400.

The T-30 seems to have it's own problems.

My 600x is probably outdated but all l need a computer laptop for is the internet and surfing and maybe wifi and DSL.

Any other suggestions.

Thanks

Alan

This TP535E that MadeInJapan has appears pretty small to me.

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?p=91201#91201

EDIT: I originally had TP353E above, but that is apparently a transcription error. You see the TP535 in the sig.

I have read that some of the later thinkpads came with a 12 inch screen (option) but the lcd wasn't as clear.

Alan

kingman99 wrote:Any other suggestions.

Tell me if I've understood you correctly: you already have a 650MHz PIII 600X and you want something more modern, smaller, but under $400.

All T-series Thinkpads weigh about the same as the 600X and are slightly bigger in size, so if you want small, I wouldn't get any of those. I recommend you to get an X22, X23 or X24, which weigh between 3.3 and 3.6 lbs. I also recommend you to get an external USB CD drive, which makes it much easier to install Windows. All three models cost less than $400.

Thanks

I will look into them.

Alan

i believe the s30 was the smallest thinkpad ever made
it was sold in japan, hong kong only, with japanese and english keyboards.
it's a collector's item. i would love to get my hands on one

thinkwiki has some decent pictures of it. below is the link...

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:S30

jdhurst wrote:One of the smallest ThinkPads was the TP 240. Perhaps it was that one. ... JD Hurst

Unless you see them side by side, I would argue that the X60s looks as small as the 240:

240: 260mm x 202mm x 26.6mm (2.98 lbs)
X60s: 268mm x 211mm x 20-28mm (2.69 lbs)

Now, the battery life is ever so slightly better on the X60s ...

MadeInJapan wrote:Reminds me of a cut down version (very small thinkpad about 6inchesX8inches and 1/5 inches thick) of a TP-380, but without CD or Floppy.

MadeInJapan posted the size of his TP535E (he had a transcription error and wrote TP353E, but the correct model # TP535E is in his sig) as: 6" x 8" x 1.5" (he wrote 1/5 inches. but I am quite sure this is another typo). That comes out to 152mm x 203mm x 38mm, if his measurements are accurate.

Here is a photo of the 535E next to an external floppy drive for reference. 535E Photo

Yes, the 535 series had a smaller footprint, although it was substantially thicker. Here are the dimensions (also including the S30):

240: 260mm x 202mm x 26.6mm (2.98 lbs)
535: 247mm x 186mm x 41mm (3.7 lbs)
S30: 257mm x 213mm × 22.5-32.3 mm (3.19 lbs)
X60s: 268mm x 211mm x 20-28mm (2.69 lbs)

All in all, the X60s is still very impressive in the size department; only the 535 is substantially smaller (thanks to the 10.4" display) and then it's nearly twice as thick.

Some brochures of the 535 series, and lots of photos and technical details available here:
http://www.aichi.to/~thinkpad/catalog/tp535/
http://www.aichi.to/~thinkpad/catalog/tp535e/
http://www.aichi.to/~thinkpad/tp535/index.html

jkahng wrote:i believe the s30 was the smallest thinkpad ever made
it was sold in japan, hong kong only, with japanese and english keyboards.
it's a collector's item. i would love to get my hands on one

thinkwiki has some decent pictures of it. below is the link...
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:S30

There is a nice review of the S30 here:
http://review.ascii24.com/db/review/pc/ ... 26071.html

Use your favourite online translation tools if you would prefer to read in English.

HI

I just received my hard drive for my 600x( 650) and l am waiting for my O/S and after l get it going l will replace the CMOS battery and get a new battery.

alan

I'm waiting for delivery of a Thinkpad 240 from an ebay auction I've won. I've always been a fan of small, go anywhere notebooks and I finally decided to get the 240 after I got tired of lugging my 600x around.

Ideally, there'd be a Thinkpad the size of a Sony TR series or a Picturebook.... but I think the 240's is the closest I'm going to get and also one of the better values out there. I do have a X31, but the 240 and TR series are smaller. I also hardly ever take the X31 out since it's worth so much and all my data is on it.

In my Treo, I keep a list of the notebooks that I've seen and I've owned/considered buying. Here's the list (in no particular order):

Compaq Contura Aero 4/33c
10.75x7.5x1.7 - 4.2 lb

IBM Thinkpad X31
10.8x8.8.1.19 - 3.6 lb

Sony Vaio TR2A
10.6x7.4x1.4 - 3.1 lb

IBM Thinkpad T30
12.0x9.8x1.4

IBM 600E
11.8x9.4x1.4 - 4.99 lb

IBM 600x
11.8x9.4x1.4 - 4.99 lbs

Toshiba 3480ct
10.3x9.1x0.8 - 3.4 lb

Compaq M300
10.5x9x0.9 - 3.4 lb

IBM Thinkpad 240/240x
10.2x8.0x1.06 - 2.98 lb or 3.28 lb

Vaio C1
9.8x6.0x1.06 - 2.2 lb

Vaio PCG-SR17
10.2x8.2x1.2 - 3.0 lb

Portege 3490CT
10.3x9.1x0.8 - 3.4 lb

The different weights for the 240/240x are with the standard battery vs. the extended battery.

I've often taken out a ruler and paper to compare/estimate the different sizes of the different units I'm interested in. I can't wait to see the 240 I've bought in person.
-Norm

norm wrote:IBM Thinkpad 240/240x
10.2x8.0x1.06 - 2.98 lb or 3.28 lb

The different weights for the 240/240x are with the standard battery vs. the extended battery.

Here are the measurements from the 240/240X's I've owned:

240X (2609-61U, 500MHz PIII & 192MB) with big battery: 3.12 lbs
240 (2609-41U, 400MHz Cel & 192MB) with small battery : 2.96 lbs
240 (2609-31U, 366MHz Cel & 192MB) with small battery: 2.94 lbs
240 (2609-21U, 300MHz Cel & 320MB) with small battery: 2.96 lbs
240 (2609-21U, 300MHz Cel & 320MB) with big battery: 3.22 lbs

As you can see, the officially published values are overestimates.

That 240X was a very nice machine indeed. I got it as a for-parts unit on eBay and an almost-new 30GB 4200rpm HDD separately for a total of only $131. It's quite a bit faster than the 240. I sold it just because I started feeling guilty about owning so many computers.